Known ways to make hooks weedless have embodied several different ways to secure a wire weed guard to a fish hook, including securing the weed guard to the hook by means of wire or plastic or by using lead or similar material poured around the hook shank.
All of these devices are put together at the factory and make the hook heavy. When wire material becomes fatigued and breaks, the hook is no longer weedless, and the person fishing must obtain a replacement. A heavy weight precludes a hook from being used with some lures as the lure will sink with the addition of extra weight.
Known weedless devices are manufactured to be permanent and the person fishing cannot remove and replace the wire forms. Also, hooks which use lead to hold the weed guard on the hook do not fall properly in the water as the hook is heavier on the leaded end, thereby falling like a jig does--lead end down.
When top water fishing with lures, spoons, spinners, plastic worms, etc., the person fishing cannot go into the weeds or lily pads, or around boat docks and dead trees where the fish like to hide, because the barbs and points on the hooks catch everything but fish.
Using known treble hooks and single barbed hooks, the bait (i.e., spoons, lures, spinners, etc.) must be kept moving so as to avoid the hooks falling to the bottom where the trash is located and where the hooks will snag on the trash. When bait is moved fast, to avoid hooking up on bottom trash, the bait passes too fast for the fish to catch it. If the bait is moved slowly, the hook catches on the trash, as discussed above.
Artificial baits or fishing lures used for trolling, casting, or jigging are designed to operate at predetermined depths. The depth of operation of a fishing lure is a function of the density of the lure assembly, its hydrodynamic shape and speed of forward motion. Lure density and shape are fixed during manufacture so the depth at which the lure will operate properly is fixed. A user cannot vary the operating depth of a lure to place it at the same depth as the fish. In some cases a lure may be made to dive deeper or shallower by varying the retrieval rate, but the shape of a lure dictates that it should be retrieved or trolled at a set speed to achieved the most lifelike action. Thus, a successful fisherperson must have a large variety of fishing lures designed to operate at various depths at which fish may be found. In may cases a lure having the proper motion through the water does not have the proper density and therefore the lure which should be most successful in attracting fish fails to reach them.
Single barbed hooks used with split rings to secure treble hooks to lures won't work with single barbed hooks as the split ring makes a single barbed hook lie 90.degree. to the left or right of the lure body instead of up or down, as desired.